Madison multifamily projects to watch in 2025

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The Madison area population is expected to grow, which calls for investment in more housing and infrastructure.

Madison will see a deluge of new multifamily housing projects this year and business leaders said they’re looking forward to growth over the next several decades.

There are more than 40 mixed-use and housing projects alone across the isthmus, a development map by Downtown Madison, Inc. showed. The city of Madison expects the city population to reach more than 385,000 in 2050, a 2023 projection showed. However, housing costs and shortages remain big issues for the city, officials noted.

Zach Brandon, president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, said that a red-hot tech industry meant more professionals would stream into the city. But the increase also calls for infrastructure to support a projected booming population.

“All data points us in the direction that this region will be one million people by 2050,” Brandon said, “So, how do you plan, how do you have enough roads, enough commercial development, certainly housing and the right set of schools. We’re grappling with challenges with the challenges that Nashville, Austin, and Seattle… have grappled with for the last couple of decades. We’re now in that moment of figuring out where we’re headed and how we’re going to get there,” he added.

Madison is at a moment where the city is getting landlocked, with most of the city already developed within its boundaries or covered by municipal growth agreements, Brandon said. City planners have opted to build up with at least nine cranes in the skyline as of late 2024.

Here are some of the ongoing projects in Madison.

1617 Sherman

Vermilion Development is leading a five-story, 309-unit multifamily development at 1617 Sherman Avenue. The $96 million project broke ground in late 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2026. McShane Construction Company is the project builder.

Baker’s Place

Baker’s Place, Madison’s first mass timber building, is racing to the finish as crews work on the exterior of the 14-story apartment building. The project features 206 apartments ranging from studio to three-bedroom units and nearly 8,400 square feet of retail space. In 2023, the project had been arranged for $73.8 million in construction financing, according to JLL Capital Markets.

Fond du Lac-based C.D. Smith Construction is the project general contractor. Neutral, the project developer, expects Baker’s Place to reach completion in March of 2025.

121 East Wilson Street

Construction is underway for a 14-story mixed-use housing project including 337 apartments and 17,000 square feet of commercial space between East Wilson Street and John Nolen Drive. Madison officials in 2023 gave final approval to the project proposed by Quad Capital Partners and Potter Lawson. J.H. Findorff & Son is working on the project, which will feature underground parking, first-floor restaurants and a two-story open-air promenade.

Johnson & Broom

Core Spaces was expected to break ground on a 15-story building on West Johnson and North Broom Street, featuring more than 400 apartments, roughly 1600 beds and around 4,000 square feet of retail. Around 10% of beds will be offered to students at a 40% discount, part of Core’s larger strategy to create more student housing in two different states. Construction is expected to be completed in 2027.

445 W. Johnson Street

In 2023, Madison approved another Core Spaces project featuring 254 apartments, townhomes and a rooftop terrace at the intersection of West Johnson and North Bassett streets. The project calls for demolition of 11 existing student rental houses and will replace them with a 12-story building with 232 units, city records showed. In addition to Johnson & Broome and 445 W. Johnson Street, Core Spaces is also working on a 15-story development at North Frances and West Johnson streets.

State Street Campus Garage

The city of Madison and Mortenson Development are leading a project to turn the aging State Street Campus Garage into a new parking structure with a 12-story student housing tower added on. In January, Stevens Construction finished the concrete parking garage with more than 400 spaces. Mortenson started construction of the housing element with 263 apartments, and the two contractors will work side-by-side to complete the project in mid-2026.